Rose of Serenity
by Blaise White
Summary: On the day that Shepard Book and Simon Tam get on the ship a young girl climbs aboard. She becomes part of the crew and finally Jayne may have fallen in love. But will he have to fight with the captain to win her heart?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I can't help but write this. It's burning up inside me, yearning to get out on fan-fiction. I keep thinking, who would Jayne go with, and the answer is no one. So I'm inserting someone.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except Rose. She I made up myself. I don't even own the setting. I could tell you that I did, but the creator might have my computer rigged, so i won't take the chance.

They landed on Persephone in the afternoon. Captain Malcom Reynolds gave the crew their assignments and went to find a man about his job. He left Keylee behind to watch for passengers. He knew that he could count on her to get the job done. He cast her a last glance then walked away.

Keylee started to relax and wait. After a while a Shepard came up to her asking for passage. They immersed in conversation, not seeing the pretty nineteen year old girl sneak aboard Serenity. Rose looked around in wonderment. She had never seen the inside of a Firefly before. She wandered around and looked at every nook and cranny. She picked a remote spot and hid, hoping not to be discovered before the ship took off. She was going to really like it here. She curled up in a small ball and fell asleep.

A couple hours later Mal came back with Zoe and Jayne beside him. He looked up and spoke to Keylee. "Do we have any more passengers?" Keylee nodded.

"Yes sir. Shepard Book and Doctor Simon Tam." Keylee said smiling. She had really taken a liking to Simon. Perhaps in time he would come to think of her the same way. They boarded the ship and the Mal ordered Wash to take off. Zoe went up to see her husband with a small smile on her face. Mal looked around before telling Jayne to help him hide the cargo in a secret compartment. Mal nodded his approval and walked off. As he walked to the other side of the cargo hold something under the stairs caught his eye. He ducked beneath them and shouted.

"Hey! What are you doing under there!" Mal wasn't happy that he had a stow-away. The stow-aways eyes popped open and Mal was taken aback. There sitting under the stairs looking up with frightened eyes was a beautiful woman. Mal was only surprised for a second. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up. Jayne looked up surprised and walked over.

"What's she doing here?" Jayne asked looking the girl up and down. His eyes met hers. He saw the fear in them as they stared at each other.

"I have no idea. Keylee!" Keylee rushed over and looked at the door.

"Who is she Captain?" Keylee asked. As usual she was smiling.

"I was hoping you could tell me Keylee. You didn't say anything about another passenger." Mal was confused although he didn't show it. He wondered why Keylee didn't tell him about the girl sooner.

"I didn't know we had another passenger sir. I didn't see her board." Keylee wasn't smiling now. She honestly didn't know that any one else had come on board.

"So, she is a stow-away." Mal dragged the girl behind him and pulled her up to the bridge. "Wash turn the boat around. We got a stow-away who needs to go back." For the first time, the girl spoke. She started to plead with Mal.

"No, please! I have nowhere to go back to on that planet. That's why I stowed away. Please don't make me go back there. Please." Mal looked at her without emotion. He sighed and told everyone to go to the galley. Jayne, Zoe, Wash, and the new passengers sat around the table with Mal and the girl standing at the head of the table. Mal still had a tight grip on the girl's arm.

"We have a situation. This girl here is a stow-away that doesn't want to go back to her planet. Any suggestions on what to do?" Mal spoke.

"Does she have any money? She could pay to stay on board with us." Keylee spoke up. She had always been the kind one.

"I- I don't have any cash. I was hoping that once we took off I could just stay as one of the crew members. You know, work to stay on the ship."

"Now hey Mal that's not a bad idea." Jayne put in. He was biased toward helping her. She was very pretty, so of course Jayne liked her.

"Any other suggestions?" Mal was reluctent to have another crew member. He didn't really need another mouth to feed. No one spoke. "So, we all want her to stay as a crew member?" Everyone said yes. Mal sighed and gave in. "Alright. What's your name?"

"Rose. My name is Rose." Rose was very glad to be able to stay aboard. She finally had a home now.

"How old are you Rose?" Mal needed to know at least her name and age. Everything else was too personal.

"Nineteen today." Rose said proudly. Mal nodded.

"Alright. Now listen up passengers. You're allowed to go anywhere on the ship except the bridge, and the hold. Got that?"

"But I have my things in the hold. I need to have acess to them." The doctor, Simon Tam protested. Mal sighed again. This was a day full of sighs.

"Fine, but only with an escort." Mal sighed. "Rose, your not allowed in the cargo hold yet either. Just temporarily until we can trust you fully." Rose nodded her understanding. "Good. Keylee please show the new people to their quaters."

Keylee nodded and led the new three away. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own any AFI lyrics mentioned in this chapter or any other chapters after this one.

Rose was fascinated by the ship. Now she knew why she had always wanted to see the inside of a firefly. The ship that took her away from her home so long ago was nothing like this. After that day six years ago she had never wanted to be on another ship except a firefly. Now this firefly was her home. She sighed thinking of her mother and father. They had died six years ago when Rose was thirteen. She remembered their smiles, and laughs. She missed them all so much, it was unbearable. Rose was jolted out of her reverie by Kaylee.

"Rose, this is where you'll stay. Make yourself at home." Kaylee said. Rose nodded and went in. Her bunk was pretty big. Bigger than at the orphanage. Bigger than the eave under which she slept when the orphange had kicked her out at eighteen. But Rose had survived, and she would keep on surviving. Rose walked over and sat on her bunk. She reached into the small pouch she wore by her side. It was a small leather bag with a thin strap that went over her shoulder. She pulled out a pair of small headphones and drapped them over her neck. She had an ancient portable cd player. Rose had taken extra good care of it and had rewired it so that it accepted new technology. Rose had always been good at that sort of thing. The outside might have been ancient but the inside wasn't.

Rose jumped when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it slowly and Mal dropped in. Rose looked over at him and smiled. "Hey Captain." She said. "What's up?"

" Is your bunk suited to your liking?" Mal asked. He didn't really like to have Rose on board, but the rest of the crew did. But still Mal had to admit that Rose was a very pretty girl. He looked her up and down, hoping that she wouldn't notice his interest.

"It's perfect. Thanks Captain. I really do appreciate you letting you me join your crew. I promise you won't regret it." Rose clapsed her hands in front of her, sort of embarrassed and lacked anything to say. She had noticed Mal looking at her, but she was used to it. Rose thought it better not to say anything. Mal just nodded and walked back out. Rose sat on her bed and put her headphones on. She pushed the play button and A.F.I started to play.

_This is what I brought you this you can keep. This is what I brought you may forget me. I promise to depart just promise one thing, kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep._

Rose leaned against her pillow and and listened to the music. Her bunk was next to the cargo hold and when Rose heard a loud noise over the music. She jumped up and rushed out of the room toward the source of the noise. It was coming from the cargo hold. She went in just in time to see Mal open the doctors metal crate. He gazed inside and jumped back. Inside the crate was a naked girl.

"No! She's not supposed to wake up until next week. The shock alone could kill her..." Simon rushed foward. At that moment they heard someone scream. It was the girl inside the crate. Simon rushed over to her.

"Who is that!" Mal exclaimed clearly shocked. Apparently he wasn't the only one who was a smuggler.

"This is my sister. her name is River." He mumbled a few words to calm her and helped her up. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room. Rose just watched it all happen, her mind numb with confusion. Everyone stared at each other and followed Simon out. There was just one person missing, but no one noticed.

Simon got River some clothes and began to tell what happened. It took him awhile to tell the story, but no one interrupted. they went back to the cargo hold when Simon had finished to see if any other stow aways were on board. After two, the supposed anything was possible. They were stopped by the man Innora had brought with her. He was holding a gun, ready to fire. Rose and everyone else froze. The man with the gun smiled. Rose looked at the man wide-eyed. She wondered what would happen to them all.

Just when they thought nothing was going to happen, the man started to speak.


End file.
